Process of manufacturing artificial horsehair.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEDRICH LEHNER, OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO VEREINIGTEKUNSTSEIDE FABRIKEN, A. G. OF FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN, GER- MANY.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL HORSEHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 713,999, dated November18,

Application filed December 26, 1900.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH LEHNER, a citizen of the Empire ofGermany, residing at Zurich, Switzerland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Artificial Horsehair;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the manufacture of threads which have all thephysical characteristics of natural horsehair; and the object thereof isto prepare such threads or fila- I 5 ments of indefinite length which atthe same time possess all the characteristic properties which makehorsehair valuable in the arts.

Natural horsehair is a perfectly smooth elastic filament of suitablethickness, but of limited length. When the same is employed in thetextile arts-for example, for bordering, trimming, or embroidering-theshortness of the individual hairs requires that they be united orspliced, so as to form a continuous thread adapted for uninterruptedwork. This preparatory operation must be carried out by specialmachines. This tedione work is eliminated when employing artificialhorsehair made under my invention,

which consists in using as starting material threads which have alreadybeen spun from cotton, ramie, cellulose, artificial silk, viscose,nitrocellulose, or the like, and in imparting to such threads thevaluable proper- 3 5 ties of natural horsehair, so that they form aperfectly smooth, thick, compact, integral filamentthat is to say, toradically modify these threads, which consist of a number of separatespun strands. The individual fibers or strands of the material used .forthis purpose must disappear to such an extent that the inner microscopicstructure of the same disappears and the separate fibers or strands willmerge into the single integral thick fila ment without spaces orintervals.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to practice my invention, Iwill now give a Serial No. 41,120, (No specimens.)

detailed description of what I consider the preferred embodiment of thesaid invention.

The cellulose, which is used as the starting material, may be in itsnatural state -as, for instance, in the case of cotton, ramie, hemp,&c.or it may be in a converted form, such as nitrocellulose, artificialsilk, viscose, or the like. me is intended to embrace cellulose matterin a natural or artificial condition. If natural cellulose material isto be used, I take one or more filaments, strands, or fibers, or one ormore threads composed of such strands, filaments, or fibers, accordingas a larger or smaller product may be desired. The material is thenplaced in a suitable solvent. In case of the natural material Ipreferably employ an ammoniacal solution p of copper oxid or aconcentrated aqueous solution of zinc-chlorid. The material is drawnthrough this solution and allowed to remain therein sufficiently long tothoroughly dissolve and cause a conversion of the same and 7c 1 anamalgamation of the fibers, strands, or filaments into one homogeneouswhole.

If the artificial forms of cellulose are usedsuch as artificial silk,viscose, nitrocellulose, &c.I take a plurality of strands or filamentsor a twisted thread of the same and subject such material to a bath,preferably of ether or alcohol, thus efiecting a sufficient dissolvingaction to attain a union of the several strands or threads into ahomogeneous 8o strand.

It will be understood that when artificial silk or the like is used thematerial already possesses the peculiar properties which are necessaryto be imparted to the natural cellulose material. In the one case it isonly requisite to bring about such a degree of softening as will permitof the cohesion and amalgamation of the threads or strands of theconverted cellulose, Whereas in the other instance it is necessary tosubject the natural material to the dissolving and converting'action ofthe baths described.

After the material has emerged from the The term cellulose as used by 55solvent-bath and it is found that the solvent has sufficientlypenetrated and caused a merging or fusing together of the strands it isimmediately drawn through any known or suitable congealing orsolidifying bath in order to arrest the further action of thesolvent-bath and to attain the form of a close compact filament. Thiscongealing liquid depends on the starting material and the solvent-bathemployed. For example, where an ammoniacal copper-oxid solution has beenemployed as a solvent an acid such as sulfuric or acetic acid, 850., isused, Where zincchlorid was used as a solvent alcohol is to be employedas a congealing agent, when sulfuric acid was the solvent water shouldbe the congealing agent, Where nitrocellulose and ether or alcohol havebeen employed a more exposure to the air or drawing the filament throughwater will be sufficient to arrest the solvent action. Thereupon thesolvents and the congealing substances are completely removed from thefilament by washing in much water, and the product is dried on reels.Thereupon it maybe further treated in the usual manner-that is, may bedyed and, if desired, denitrated. In order to correct any flawsresulting from the imperfectly-united strands of the components of theartificial horsehair where they have not been perfectly united Withoutagain drawing the product through the solvent and congealing bath, theartificial horsehair may be finally drawn through a solution ofcaoutchouc or gelatin or collodion. This will suffice to cover any suchflaws. The product so formed possesses the appearance and properertiesof natural horsehair. It may be used for all the purposes for which thelatter is employed. It may be employed in the textile arts and inembroidering. It may also be knit into the form of mantles, which, whenimpregnated with incandescent salts, can be used for the Welsbachburners. It may also be carbonized and used as a filament forincandescent electric lamps.

For stout artificial horsehairs a plurality that is, two or morespnnthreads or strands are combined to form a compound thread, as statedabove. In this case the impregnation of the strands with the solvent, inaddition to the effects above set forth with respect to the individualcomponent strands, leads to the further result that the transversepressure due to drawing the compound threads through the solvent-baths,in conjunction with the softened exterior of the component strands,welds the latter together into one integral filament. This portion of myinvention is particularly useful where the materials are composed inwhole or in part of arti- "Ticial silk, viscose, or nitrocellulose, ofwhich not only the strands in the individual compound threads weldtogether into compact and tough filmanent, due in part to the priorspinning action and in part to the action of the solvent, conjunctivewith the drawing operation, but the said component strands in turn arewelded together to form a single integral filament of artificialhorsehair in which all the initial component parts are merged into asolid, strong, and compact whole.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

1. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists insubmitting spun threads to the action of a solvent until the entiresubstance of the same has become impregnated with the said solvent, andthen removing the solvent.

2. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists insubmitting a filament to a solvent-bath until the entire substance ofthe same has become impregnated with the said solvent, and then to acongealing-bath.

3. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists insubmitting spun threads to a solvent until the entire substance of thesame has become impregnated with the said solvent-bath and then to acongealingbath. v

4. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists in firstdrawing spun threads of cellulose, such as cotton, ramie, artificialsilk, viscose and the like, through a solvent-bath, until the entiresubstance has become impregnated with the said solvent and then drawingthe same through a congealing-bath.

5. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists indrawing a thread of cellulose through a solvent-bath until the entiresubstance of the same has become impregnated with the said solvent andthen through a congealing-bath, and finally washing and drying theresultant thread.

6. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists in firstdrawing a thread through a solvent-bath and then through acongealing-bath whereby its individual component strands are weldedtogether into an integral filament.

7. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists in firstdrawing a thread of cellulose material such as described, through asolvent-bath until the same is welded into one integral filament andthen drawing the same through a congealing-bath.

8. The process of preparing artificial horsehair Which consistsin firstdrawingathread of cellulose material such as described, through asolvent-bath until the same is compacted into one integral filament andthen drawing the same through a congealing bath and finally washing anddrying the resultant thread.

9. The process of preparing artificial horsehair which consists insubmitting cellulose material to a solvent-bath, then removing the wa es3 b solvent and finally drawing the same through as a solution ofcaoutchouc, gelatin or collolo a coating solution such as caoutchoucsoludion. tion, gelatin or collodion. In testimony whereof I affix mysignature 10. Theprocess of preparing artificial horsein presence of twowitnesses.

5 hair which consists in drawin a spun thread T of fibrous materialthrough; solvent-bath, FRIEDRICH LEHLER' then drawing the same through acongealing- Witnesses: bath, and finally through a coating -bath A.LIEBERKNECHT, whereby its fibers are welded together, such A. ROTH.

